Godspeed John Oliver

John Oliver, on his show Last Week Tonight, does a wonderful job giving a long commentary on one topic. This past week he chose Televangelists. Below is the result of months of research and correspondence. (warning, harsh language is used in this clip and may not be suitable for young children and animals).

I thought he did a brilliant job taking a deep look at the plague that is Prosperity Gospel Televangelists, (although I don’t agree with the language, especially when he says God says, “$&@ You.”) What is remarkable is the governments lack of oversight…ok not too remarkable, more sad, very sad. The loopholes in the laws make it extremely easy to give to these “churches.”

John Oliver has started his own church, Our Lady of Perpetual Exemption. Click on the site because it is hilarious but also has a point. Here is their mission “When John Oliver found out that Robert Tilton, Kenneth Copeland and other pastors of their ilk have been taking advantage of the open-ended IRS definition of the word “church” and procuring a litany of tax breaks, he founded the Our Lady of Perpetual Exemption Church, a tax-exempt organization that you certainly can’t say is not a church. From that day forward, he has been dedicated to collecting copious donations and all manner of divine blessings, but mainly the donations.”

I hope this tax experiment works because I truly despise what Prosperity Gospel Preachers do to harm the actual true work of God in this world. They take advantage of the elderly, the poor, and the gullible all in the name of Jesus. They pad their pockets and building huge amounts of wealth. They are doing more damage then they are good in this world because people actually believe what they preach is gospel. In reality it is heresy.

God bless you John and may your crazy notion that a TV show can be called a church shine a light on the these loopholes so they can be closed.

One final note, if you read the small print, any donations made to Our Lady of Perpetual Exemption will be used for good. “Upon dissolution, any assets belong to the Church at that time will be distributed to Doctors Without Borders.”